Jackie “O” Henderson sent a text message to the head of the Kiis FM Network five months before she walked off air, saying listeners were complaining that she was in an “abusive relationship” with former co-host Kyle Sandilands, court documents show.
In her wrongful termination claim against Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Henderson alleges she was subjected to “degrading” comments on air. The documents reveal that on 11 September, Derek Bargwanna, head of the Kiis Network, texted her to check in after an on-air argument. She replied: “Yeah it’s fine today. But let’s make sure Hamish [McLennan] and Ciaran [Davis] start to think about how to address this. We are getting a lot of complaints from listeners, calling it an abusive relationship, women especially.”
Henderson launched legal action four weeks after her contract was terminated by ARN Media, and days after Sandilands’ own court hearing. She is seeking compensation of “at least $82,250,000” for the loss of her 10-year contract. The claim outlines a prior complaint from 20 August, when she walked off air after Sandilands allegedly made “offensive and degrading comments” about her character and dating life, including calling her comments “psycho-babble” and saying he worried she would “never find anyone”. He also referred to her “period time”.
On 20 February, Henderson left the studio for the final time after Sandilands mocked her interest in astrology and allegedly swore at her, saying: “This shit is mental… You don’t know what the [censored] you’re doing all the time… You don’t give a shit.” The claim states CBC did not intervene. The following day, she texted chief executive Michael Stephenson and chief content officer Kerri Elstub, describing the conduct as “unfair, inappropriate and completely unprovoked”, and asking whether boundaries had been put in place.
ARN announced the show would be taken off air in March, citing Henderson’s claim that she could no longer work with her on-air partner of 25 years. CBC has not yet filed a defence, and the matter is listed for its first court mention on 24 April.
